Oh Susannah!
by HaloNoir
Summary: Dumbledore tells the story of one of the greatest witches he ever knew whom the world never got to know. He tells of the life, loves and dreams of Susannah Bellamy who captured the hearts many including Sirius Black. Susannah the Sweetheart of Hogwarts.
1. A Witch with Great Potential

Susannah Bellamy had everything going for her in life. She was a naturally talented witch, daughter of a prestigious wizarding family and was a greatly charismatic woman. She wasn't foolish either, she knew these things were things to be grateful for, and she maintained a healthy dose of realism in the way of the company she kept. Namely the infamous Marauders of Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Before I can tell you the story that is Susannah's, I must first give you a little background on her – as to avoid confusion and aid the reader in the understanding of the mind of one of the greatest witches to pass through the doors of Hogwarts.

Susannah Bellamy was born on the 21st of October, 1960 to proud parents Jonathan and Henrietta Bellamy of Somerset. Her family is in possession of a muggle title (Dukedom of Somerset) which allowed for a comfortable upbringing. Her parents decided early on, that their children would be raised in a muggle environment until they received their Hogwarts letters.

Only one thing prevented Susannah from being a perfectly normal witch – this was her hearing loss. Her hearing loss was, apparently caused by some magical defect for no mediwitch or doctor, and her parents spared no expenses, could find a cure. Her lack of hearing was profound in her left ear and severe in her right but with the aid of a magical amplifier in her right ear she was able to hear well enough. She always claimed she preferred being deaf – that she liked sleeping in silence at night and the "special treatment" she received.

At the age of 11 she left her southern home, her parents and younger brother to attend the finest wizarding school of Britain. While shy at first she made some lasting friendships in her first year, namely with Lily Evans and Remus Lupin. Interestingly, for those interested in the Marauders' period of Hogwarts History, Susannah was the first person Lupin told of his infliction.

As the years rolled on and Susannah moved up the school she began to find confidence with a larger and more boisterous group of friends – the Marauders. Although she and Lily were still close friends she would call the Marauders her truest friends - until the day she died.

Her most important relationship – at least the one that everyone knew of, was that with Sirius Black. Although they'd been friends for several years the two only began to see each other in a romantic light as they entered their sixth year, when Sirius had finally drawn the courage from his three best friends to leave the House of Black, for good.

I am going to tell you now of Susannah Bellamy's story, filling in what I don't know with what others can remember. Susannah Bellamy, who would have achieved great things.


	2. Stylishly Late

The silence of Hogwarts' halls was broken by a sudden surge of sounds – heavy, fast footsteps and the clacking of a pair of high heels on the marble floors interceded with various exclamations.

"Oh bollocks!" a clear female voice exclaimed.

"Bugger. Bugger. Slughorn'll kill us you know?" called a deep resonating voice.

"Shut up and move, you berk." Said the final voice, smoother than the last.

As the three figures raced to the stairs, which blended from the white marble to black as the depths approached, you would have seen a sight common to those who lived at the school. James Potter, mastermind extraordinaire led the way while Sirius Black and Susannah Bellamy clattered behind – not as athletic as the Gryffindor seeker. Susannah in her heels, clutched frantically to Sirius's arm in an attempt not to fall on the smooth marble, and whined slightly in panic – she'd much rather just be late for the lesson than try this mad dash with the two harebrained boys. As the bottom of the stairs approached the inevitable finally happened and Susannah's heel skidded on one of the dark grey steps. With a loud shriek she slipped forward into James with Sirius in tow.

"You get that I hate you guys, right?" She spoke after a few moments, trapped between the two young men. She looked around, hopefully, for her bag, spotting it next to the door of the Potions Lab – in the door of which was standing a very large and very angry man. Slughorn.

All three offenders scrabbled quickly to their feet, clutching at their things – poor Susannah having to bend over in front of Slughorn for her bag and various spilled texts.

Scuttling into the dark lab they all tried to avoid eye contact with either Slughorn or their fellow classmates. Slughorn had clearly decided that their embarrassing entry to the lesson was punishment enough, and dove straight into the lessons.

The rest of the lesson passed slowly until they began to be paired off to make potions – alas this required eye contact. The effect of the giggles spreading across the class was hardly noticeable at first, but even Slughorn had to notice when half the class were clutching their sides with hysterical laughter.

"Humph. And may I ask, students, what is so funny?" This simple question from the professor sent the group into further hysterics, with one red head collapsing on the floor laughing. Slughorn's eyes narrowed. "Black! Potter! Bellamy! Detention at eight!" He barked gruffly, but even this wouldn't stop them laughing.

As Slughorn began to rage about immaturity, impropriety and disrespect, Lily Evans and Susannah tried to collect themselves, desperately. Eventually they too admitted defeat and gave in to their choking sobs of laughter, realising after all that the three culprits couldn't be given any more punishment.

The lesson ended with a bell – barely heard over the sounds of the classroom – and the students filed out.

"So, me beauty, think you'll be able to get up these stairs without wiping out the potions class this time?" Sirius teased Susannah, throwing his arm round her and pulling her close. She winced in response, flexing her foot slightly.

"Actually I think I might have done something to it." She bit her lip in thought as she waited at the bottom of the stairs. "What lesson have we next?"

"Divination." Lily replied quickly.

"Forget it. I haven't done the homework and there's not a chance I'm trekking up all those stairs just to get a bollocking." She looked round her friends "Who wants to take me to the Hospital Wing?"

Everyone's hand shot up, Divination not being anyone's favourite subject. Before she could make a decision though Sirius had, literally, swept her off her feet.

"Sorry chaps. Perks of being the boyfriend and all that." He said with a wink before starting up the stairs.

"Sorry!" Susannah called as they turned the corner, looking down on her more than slightly annoyed friends "Get Remus to take notes for me!" And with that they disappeared from sight.


	3. Good Friends

Susannah left the hospital wing around thirty minutes later, hobbling with a bandaged foot and crutches. Sirius popped out as the doors of the infirmary closed – clearly unwilling to go to lessons if he didn't have to. Awkwardly he tried to figure out how best to help her without interfering with the crutches. In pity she let her satchel slide down her arm for him to carry.

"There we go! I'll just take this. So what's wrong then?" He asked concernedly. Susannah smiled, he had always been too overprotective of her – she supposed it was the deaf thing.

"It's nothing really, just a couple of broken bones on the top of my foot – I didn't want to spend Friday night in the Hospital Wing so she said she could strap it up and it would be better in a few days." Sirius "ummed" and "ahhed" appropriately, placing his hand on her lower back and guided her towards the common room – clearly they were not going to Divination.

"Christian Dior" he called out to the Fat Lady's portrait, Susannah sniggering at the hilarity or her and Lily's choice for the password this year. Sirius dashed ahead and plumped the pillows up on the Marauder's first choice of couch in front of the fireplace, she smiled at him.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" She asked him as she sat on the sofa, foot resting on Sirius' lap.

"I don't know m'dear, maybe it's time you started earning your keep?" He asked cheekily leaning over her outstretched leg to kiss her.

"Owowowow!"" She yelped, "My foot, you're crushing my foot!"

After many apologies later the common room door finally swung open as Gryffindors filed in after a long and hard week of school. Eventually Susannah found herself surrounded by the friends she loved and relaxed in their company. Lily replaced Sirius at her feet, whilst Sirius moved to rest Susannah's head on his lap, James sat on Lily's feet and Remus on the floor next to Suze, reading out the Divination notes he'd taken for her. Peter scurried between different ends of the couch – desperate not to be ignored.

As the afternoon wound down, Suze realized, as Sirius played idly with her hair, Remus conversed intelligently about various passions and Lily read a book propped on her good foot, with James looking up at his goddess with adoring eyes, that this was a truly perfect moment – broken bones and all.

A few hours later they trudged slowly down towards dinner, talking animatedly what they planned to do on the weekend seeing as it was the penultimate Hogsmeade trip before they broke up for Christmas. Despite some worry from Lily over Susannah foot they resolved to spend the entire day in Hogsmeade – pushing homework off til Sunday, much to the dismay of Lily and Remus. As much as Suze loved James and Lily together, she couldn't help but wonder at times how those two had never had a thing for one another.

Susannah feeling that she was headed for a "Sirius Overdose" if she spent much more time with him today, decided to sit with Remus and Lily for dinner. They sat, happy to chat away about current events and idle gossip about students and teachers alike. As Suze was still picking away at her treacle pudding, Dumbledore stood up and called for the attention of his students.

"Good evening all. I wish I was just wishing you a joyful weekend, but alas my tidings are not so happy. As many of you will know Lord Voldemort," Some of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws shuddered slightly at the name whilst some Slytherins twitched nervously, "has begun his attempt to seize power through a reign of both terror and madness. I do not wish to frighten students so close to the holidays but I must warn you to stay in the company of those you trust and not to stray too far from safety." With that his eyes twinkled again, "Have a most pleasant weekend."

As the Gryffindors made their way back to the common room the seventh years could feel the first ripples of unease in the students and couldn't help but be influenced themselves. Susannah recalled a conversation that she had overheard between Dumbledore and McGonagall the week before, all she could really remember was the frightened tone of her Transfiguration teacher and the unusually forceful tone in her headmaster's voice: "Minerva, we are on the brink of war." Susannah shuddered and made her way for Sirius, whose black hair she could see in the crowd ahead. She wanted to say goodnight to him before he went to detention, having been let off herself after her trip to Pomfrey.


	4. An Unwanted Revelation

It was late afternoon now on Saturday and the six friends had bundled themselves into a small booth in the Three Broomsticks, rubbing their hands together furiously as they waited for Rosmerta's attention. Once the bubbly hostess had come round they ordered their butterbeers – in the bottles, the girls insisted, as they knew Sirius and James' fondness for lacing their drinks with vodka.

Lily and Susannah had had a successful shopping outing, getting gifts for parents, friends' parents and friends (with the exception of each other's and boyfriends) – despite the boys' attempts to hamper them by lying in wait outside every shop they went in with snowballs.

Suze looked around the room as well as she could, trapped firmly between James and Sirius in the corner of the booth. She could see some of the younger students but no sign of teachers, which meant that they could let their hair down a bit. Sure enough, as soon as the drinks came, a game of truth or dare was started.

"Dare." Demanded Sirius bravely to Peter, who was deceptively creative when it came to sadistic dares. Peter bit his lip in thought a moment.

"I dare you…" His eyes flicked across the room once more, "to try and blag a free drink off of Madam Rosmerta!" he cackled with the rest of the table.

After five minutes of flirting with the older woman, Sirius did indeed come back with a free drink, although Suze couldn't help but wonder if he'd offered to pay for later.

They moved on to Round the Table Truth or Dare, the first of which was a dare to kiss the person on your right – Lily and Suze shot a relieved look across the table that they were sitting opposite each other, they knew of their boyfriends' dirty minds. As Susannah leant in to give Sirius an elaborate smooch she was surprised by James planting a slobbery kiss on the ticklish back of her neck and let out a squeal of laughter.

As the game wore on and fewer and fewer students were in the inn, the subject matter became more risqué. Everyone was still enjoying themselves when Peter piped up annoyingly: "Who did you lose your virginity to?"

Suddenly several pairs of eyes diverted themselves from the table in panic – all had to answer, since magical truth or dare was binding – the truth would out eventually. Sirius let out a hoarse laugh and confessed it had been with a Slytherin three years his senior in 4th year, eliciting pulled faces from most of his friends. Remus, Lily and Peter soon confessed they were still virgins which left only James and Susannah, uncomfortably close to one another. Both were holding out, being goaded relentlessly by all but Remus who glared angrily at them.

Finally James' resolve cracked and he croaked lowly "Susannah." The quiet mutter cut through the chatter of the table like a gunshot. Lily looked from her boyfriend to her best friend – betrayal evident in her eyes. Susannah closed her eyes in defeat and nodded in agreement – he was hers too. No one spoke for several long minutes but she was aware of bristling rage emanating from Sirius and Lily and couldn't bring herself to meet their eyes. The table that had been so warm and cheerful seemed much colder now. Finally her strength crumbled and as her eyes watered with shame she stood and pushed her way past Sirius and lumbered as well as she could, on her foot for the door. She found herself in the swirling snow again feeling the blissful lack of eyes on her. As she limped slowly towards the carriage station she became aware of footsteps behind her. Sirius. She refused to let herself be dragged back in to the bar and trudged on though the darkening snow, with Sirius' voice ringing in the closing dark.


	5. Meeting in the Dark

Susannah trudged miserably on, no longer crying as she was worried they would freeze her eyes. She realised with a sunken heart she was lost. She had been aiming for the little known stables a half mile from Hogsmeade but the sun was long gone now. She had three choices: sit down and wait for rescue; signal help with her wand or keep walking and hope that if she was going in a circle she would come to a landmark soon. She stopped, thinking. Her fingers were frozen, she shouldn't take them out of her gloves to use her wand – and think of the embarrassment if she were close to Hogsmeade again. If she sat down though she might well freeze to death before rescue or day came. That left only walking which was becoming more and more difficult with each passing minute. Regardless she walked on.

An hour passed. With growing certainty she thought she could see trees ahead. Susannah resolved to walk along the tree line so that she might find Hogsmeade station. The woods were dense, and darker even than the night. Finally all of the fears she had began to shake loose in her brain – not only could she die from cold out here but she could be attacked from something in the woods now. Shuddering she carried on.

The wind blowing past her ears made it very difficult to hear anything but as she walked she fancied she could hear snatches of conversation in the trees. At first she tried to ignore it but her curiosity and desperation to et out of the snow overrode instinct and she slipped between the trees, vowing she would go no further than ten trees deep into the forest – she was already lost in the dark and snow, she didn't need to be lost in the trees too. She gave a mirthless chuckle but stopped when she heard a loud booming voice from ahead. She was five trees deep. The snow had stopped falling on her now and she was able to grope ahead with more security from slipping now. Eight trees. There was a light ahead! Her rational senses told her to race ahead and ask fro help from whoever was there but another instinct said to draw her wand and walk with caution. She fumbled as quietly as she could for it and held it in her red leather gloved hand, hoping not to use it. She crept forwards more carefully now. At the tenth trees there was a sudden opening which shocked her. She pulled herself back into the branches so that she would not be seen.

There were wizards there, but her stomach knotted in fear – they were masked and gowned in full black robes and hoods. Suppressing her want to run she watched the men: there were about thirty men, seemingly in no formation, socialising. But as her eyes adjusted to the gloomy light she could see another man in the crowd talking to his members, smiling amiably – he wasn't wearing a mask. He was strikingly tall and had a handsome face but there was something that emanated from his eyes: something wrong. Her mind cleared: they were Death Eaters!

A way back to the castle was now in desperate need, she had to warn Dumbledore, but she couldn't use her wand – that much was certain. As she pulled away from the light her feet moved with more speed, her broken bones forgotten. As she counted back the trees she made it to the tree line again and hoped that the light from behind would aid her plight. Vaguely she could see a small building and stepped in that direction. There was a sudden crack. She looked down and saw what appeared to be a large stick resting on the snow – broken in two. The voices stopped.


	6. Eye to Eye

Susannah froze, please, please let them not have heard. She held her breath in tension. There was a shout – Gods no!

She ran, the quiet approach abandoned, and fled across the snowy plain. She could hear feet and calls at her back and panic seized her – what should she do? Let herself be caught and hope for mercy? Run and hope they never caught her? Or should she fight, taking as many of them down with her? Her decision was made for her as her foot finally gave out from the pressure of running, twisting in the snow. She held her wand aloft – she was a Gryffindor and would fight to the end.

"Petrificus Totalus! Locomotor Mortis! Flatus Inflictio!" Susannah called loudly, aiming her wand at the Death Eaters; the first two hit their targets solidly, whilst the relatively wide Blasting spell knocked over several at once. She had time to quickly utter the disarming spell but before she was able to summon a shield she felt something crash into her side, a stunning spell she would guess. Before she could right herself she felt hands seize her and was lifted from the ground by her neck – her wand lying uselessly on the snow. Her legs kicked vainly for ground or flesh but the man was too strong and too tall. As she looked up Susannah realized that the man holding her was the unmasked man. He looked her in the eyes, not saying a word. She heard the others draw near. She knew, without anyone saying that this was _him_, Voldemort. Fear finally set in and she thrashed violently against his hold – but a feeling of calm flowed over her, and the memory of the afternoon before, with her friends came to her mind's eye. It took her a moment to realise that this was his doing, she had heard the rumours of his skills as a Legilimens, yet she couldn't bring herself to break eye contact, unwilling to submit. Moments passed and no one said a word, although she knew he was finding everything he needed to know from her mind.

"So, Susannah Bellamy, what makes you roam in the dark?" He spoke finally in a deep voice, trying to bring forth her disastrous evening with her friends, she at last resisted, blocking him with every ounce of effort she could muster – surprising even him. He let out a deep rumble of laughter: "Very well." He dropped her and as she hit the ground landing on her knees, she felt her senses come back to her. Lack of oxygen she supposed. She looked quickly for her wand but couldn't see it and there were men all around them.

"Fitting. I prefer you on your knees." Voldemort smirked, eliciting guffaws from the Death Eaters. She looked back defiantly, if he was going to kill her she would not give him the benefit of seeing her humiliated. He pulled out his wand, remarking that it was a "waste".

"Susannah?!" A loud call came from across the field, searching in the dark. The Death Eaters immediately became anxious – one girl was not an issue but more would draw needless attention.

Voldemort hissed in annoyance, "Who is that?"

Susannah smiled, "My friends. They are looking for me."

Voldemort lowered his wand, crouching down to her eye level; he respected her for the fact that she retained his eye contact.

"A true Gryffindor. I reward you," he leant close to her, "with your life. But next time we meet you will repay me." He made as if to stand, but at the last minute grabbed her face and bit her cheek forcefully – causing Susannah to scream for the first time. With that he and his followers swept away into the darkness of the night.


	7. A Friend in Deed

Susannah slumped backwards on the snow, drained. She heard someone call her voice again, and this time she called back, "I'm here!" There were no more calls, but she could hear the sound of footfalls, crunching in the snow. She looked idly for her wand and saw that it was a few feet behind her, whether that was where she had dropped it or a Death Eater had she didn't know – she was grateful all the same. Clutching the willow and cedar wand to her chest she lay on the snow, on the brink of consciousness.

"Susannah!" a relieved voice spoke near her, she looked up at the face, illuminated by his wand: Remus.

"I heard shouts and I could see light coming from over here" He chattered nervously as he crouched besides her in the snow. She heard an intake of breath as he saw her face, and she brought her hand up to her right cheek, looking at the glove she saw a dark stain on the leather – water? But no, that wouldn't cause Remus to blanch like that.

"Susannah, what happened? Say something!" Remus was getting shriller so at last she spoke to ease his mind.

"Death Eaters. Ran into them, by the woods." She croaked, "Voldemort was there." Her mouth seem uncooperative she noted, a small rational part of her brain seemed to be in overdrive and assessed that she was probably in shock, going into hypothermia or both, "Remus, I'm so cold."

Remus quickly summoned a flame which burnt away in the snow to warm her up, and raised his wand into the air, "Luminae." A pillar of glittering light appeared above him and seemed to fall to the ground slowly – a beacon. Remus wrapped his arms around Susannah, pulling her upper body away from the snow so that she wouldn't get colder, and rubbed her wet gloves between his own. He knew he had to distract her from dwelling on her encounter until they got to safety.

"They're coming. We've been looking for you for hours. Peter went back to the castle to check on you as we finished talking but he couldn't find you," he paused, watching her face which seemed strangely devoid of emotion, "We were so worried." This caused her to look up at him and she felt a rush of guilt for putting her friends through that.

"Do you want to talk about the James thing?" He asked tentatively.

"No." was her first sharp response but after a moment she conceded, "Yes." Remus smiled at her encouragingly, "You know how my parents and James's were always trying to set us up? And we went through that period of pretending to go out with one another just to shut them up?" Remus nodded sagely, "It happened then. We just got to know each other really well, and we, we just drank too much one night and it happened. It didn't mean anything." She let out a bitter laugh "I can't even remember much! The next morning we got up and went our separate ways – I knew he was in love with Lily and knew I didn't love him that way. We thought we'd gotten away with it." She smiled sadly at him, "You don't seem surprised."

"I'm not," he hesitated before confessing "I knew the two of you had, you know," this came as a surprise to her.

"How?"

"I'm afraid I saw the two of you sleeping when I couldn't sleep and went to fetch a book." Even in the darkness she could see a blush spreading on his face.

"Why didn't you just say something?" She asked, amazed.

But before he could answer they heard snow crunching as feet approached. Susannah tensed, afraid of the Death Eaters coming back, but relaxed when she saw the familiar shapes of her friends. Lily let out a cry of relief and ran the last distance to her friend.

"Oh God, Suze, I was so worried!" She sobbed as she hugged her friend desperately; pulling back she said sternly "You are never allowed out of our sight again."

The gang drew around and she felt her strength melt, and she burst into tears. She had her friends to be strong for her now.


End file.
